wicola

Lake County Soil and Water and WICOLA have agreed to co-sponsor and seek a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency CWP grant for the WICOLA Clean Water Project. A significant portion of this proposal includes the analysis of sediment cores taken in various areas of the watershed. A brief summary of the rational for this follows:
Building a Long-Term Water Quality Record for the White Iron Chain of Lakes.
Water quality in the WICOL has been subject to human-induced environmental changes since settlement of the region approximately 150 years ago. Despite nationwide remedial efforts, there may be remaining issues caused by erosion, invasive species, failing septic systems, contaminated sediments, abandoned waste sites, failing landfills, airborne deposition, industrial discharges, diffuse agricultural areas and other surface runoff. Impacts from these anthropogenic stressors are not well understood. By describing trends for these environmental insults, we should be able to identify causes and predict the impacts of development scenarios. Paleolimnology offers a means to fill these information gaps in ecological history through the use of fossil physical (e.g., organic/inorganic content), chemical (e.g., metals) and biological remains (e.g., algae) preserved in sediment cores. The evidence preserved in sedimentary profiles can be used to provide quantitative and qualitative reconstructions of environmental trends that have resulted from natural and anthropogenic drivers. The sedimentary record will provide us with a detailed archive of past environmental information that would offer pre-settlement baselines, environmental trends, and the timing and magnitude of changes related to human activities.
Through these analyses we aim to answer important questions:

What is the extent of ecological degradation, and have rehabilitation efforts been effective?
What are the continued impacts from persistent stressors such as failing septic systems, erosion and invasive species?
What is the future environmental trajectory for the WICOL?
What additional remedial action might be needed, and how are the lakes going to respond to future development?

FOR COMPLETE DETAILS OF THE PROPOSAL, CLICK ON "PROJECT PROPOSAL" above. You will need ADOBE READER for this file. If you do not have it, download a free copy here. ADOBE READER